Met MRI for Martinez

Fuggedabouthim

Martinez Never Cared About the Boston Red Sox. He Used the Team in a Highly Unethical Fashion to Get the Most Money. The Sox Were Crazy to Offer Him Three Years. Period.

"There are a lot of people who love me in Boston and I know that right now they must be crying. I tried. I offered my heart, my soul, to stay in Boston. Things could not work out the way we wanted them to. But in reality it's no one's fault. God simply wanted this to be my destiny right now."
-- Another Amazin' Speech from Pedro

FYI: Martinez Forced to Have MRI

Martinez Confirms Mets Deal
While Minaya Acts Like He's Never Heard of the Guy

New Gammons on Pedro, Cuza, Minaya, and the MRI

"There's gonna be some stink here..." -- Gammons on Pedro MRI

More PG on 'EEI's Big Show: "I was told by someone from the Mets, that I really trust, that he will have an MRI. But this doctor, the new doctor that's come in in the last couple of years, is very tough. And there's gonna be some stink here because when Jaret Wright went for his, if a doctor sees anything he's not sure about, he's goes "I'm not taking responsibility for this." So then they have to ship them to Dr. Andrews or somebody else... my guess is there's gonna be a little question on this. Didn't Pedro get upset this spring when they asked him to take an MRI? (Sean McAdam: Yep). I don't know. Pedro is a very good pitcher, but before getting hysterical over losing Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez, we're still looking at 200 innings and a 4.60 ERA between the two of them.

Pedro is very good, but I believe the word is, one of the Red Sox front office guys said, if they had the three-year $40.5 million contract with the 252 perks, said to me "this contract is going to cause us more anxiety than anything, there's no way to get a penny of insurance... if you look at Pedro's baserunners per nine innings, hits per nine innings, strikeout to walk ratios, they've all gone south dramatically in the last five years, strikeouts per nine innings pitched too. Those are indicators that the stuff is not there. He had a 5.00 ERA when he pitched in a normal rotation on four days rest. Tom Verducci admired what Pedro did in the post-season, pointing out that his three good starts were on 7-8-and-7 days rest. And then when he pitched on four days rest, he didn't pitch well.

I really worry for Omar Minaya that this could be a terrible deal. And I'll tell you why I object to Fern Cuza. I think the right thing is to do the best thing for your client. And the best thing for your client whose already made $92 million and is guaranteed $133 million dollars. He's allowed to do basically what he wants to do. People leave him alone. Nobody made a big stink about his not oing to the sixth game of the Yankees series, which I still think is perposterous. But in New York, well over half the media view him as a complete and utter mercenary who grovels to get one extra dollar. Pedro does not take kindly to any criticism. He's going to get killed in New York. And with the franchise run by a PR guy from New York named Stu Sucherman, cause he has the final say on every decision made because he's Fred Wilpon's PR hack, I just think he's in for big trouble. I think he could be miserable, or it's obvious there's a chance he's gonna break down. This has all the earmarks of a disaster and an ugly way for his career to end." -- Peter Gammons

"Pedro gets through the MRI with a wink and a nod from the Mets. His shoulder is the big open secret in baseball, the Mets had to know this, but Omar Minaya just wants to make a big splash." -- 12.14 Buster Olney, ESPNews

Contract Described as Mo Vaughnesque

Make Room for Boomer

Wells Passes Physical with Red Sox

In Theo We Bust?

Nation Gets Nervous as Pressure to Bring in Hudson or A.J. Burnett Mounts

"There's a lot of names out there that I'm pretty excited about, Tim Hudson, A.J. Burnett. A.J. Burnett I think has probably the best arm in the big leagues. Absolutely. This guy is incredible. Obviously big key is health. To me he had a much higher ceiling than Josh Beckett. I know don't where he's at medically. Tim Hudson obviously. A guy who's making I think under $7 million this year. And he's a winner... I'm counting on Theo to make sure this five man rotation and 25 man roster will have the ability to defend a world title."-- Curt Schilling on D&C

Schilling Won't Be Ready Until May, the Earliest

Opening Day Goes Away. Ace Recovery Taking Longer Than Expected.
Cannot Rotate Ankle for 4-5 Weeks. Month Behind Puts Him into May.

12.14.04: Listen Here: Curt Schilling on WEEI with Dennis & Callahan

Gerry Callahan: Will you be ready to report on-time and be ready for spring training?

Curt Schilling: Things are going well, but no I don�t think so. I�m gonna be late, I think, starting the season. I just moved into a boot this past weekend and I was told in the last 10 days, unbeknownst to me up to this point, that I will not be allowed to rotate my ankle in and out for another 4-5 weeks. I�m not really sure what the date is, I think today�s right around the 15th, but that�s the day I start throwing, which I cannot do. So I�m looking at least another month, before I start throwing, which puts me a month behind.

GC: You said season, you mean opening day season?

CS: Yeah, I think so. I don�t think so (be ready to start opening day). Lots can change once it comes out of a cast and I get going and I know I�ve been a quick healer, but as of right now the timetable looks something later than opening day.

Pedro Rules!

"The fans let it go, and, there's definitely different standards, which I was surprised to see given the passion here. That players are cut a lot of different slack in a lot of different scenarios and situations..." -- Curt Schilling

GC: Is inaccurate to say he was spoiled?

CS: In what sense Gerry? We're all spoiled

GC: Yeah that's true. Was there a different set of rules?

CS: Petey had his own set of rules. No question.

GC: Did you? CS: In what regard? GC: I guess what we are referring to with Pedro are the things that we know about, were leaving early (JD: arrivals and departures), showing up late, (CS: yeah), missing a day or two around the All Star break (CS: yeah, yeah sure)

CS: Those were his own rules. They had been established and in place before I got here. Before Terry got here. He was allowed to do those kind of things and that was something that... yeah, that is different than other players. But, what are you going to do? There was a precedent established before we got here, and it was OK with everybody and hey, the media didn't have a problem with it. So I guess as players it was not up to us to have a problem with it. The fans let it go, and, there's definitely different standards, which I was surprised to see given the passion here. That players are cut a lot of different slack in a lot of different scenarios and situations, but I also again wasn't here for the seven years prior, I didn't get a chance to see up close the things he had done for this city and this team as a performer.

Martinez Won't Take Mets MRI

The Stark Truth About Pedro, Cuza

Is the old tear in labrum putting new fear in Pete? Or the frayed rotator cuff?

Jayson Stark on Perks, Planes, Privileges, Pedro being "hurt and angry," Cuza using Sox deal, and more: "They know -- everybody knows -- Martinez has a tear in his labrum that's practically as wide as the San Andreas Fault. One informed estimate put that tear as 90 percent full."